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Influential politicians and industry heavyweights have weighed back into the debate on whether 21st Century Fox should be given the green light for its Sky takeover, pulling the competition watchdog in opposite directions ahead of its expected recommendation later this month.

Lord Grade, who is widely respected within the broadcasting sector, having served as chairman of the BBC and as chief executive of ITV and Channel 4, said there were now "no credible grounds remaining on which this transaction could be prohibited".

"All existing concerns raised about behavioural remedies per se are now answered and therefore irrelevant," he said in a letter to the Competition & Markets Authority.

These included a commitment to guarantee funding to Sky News for at least 10 years and offering to immediately sell Sky News on to Disney.

The CMA is due to make recommendations on the £11.7bn takeover of Sky to Culture Secretary Matt Hancock by May. The ultimate decision on whether to block the deal, however, lies with Mr Hancock, and is expected by the middle of June.

Lord Grade said: "Whether of not the closure of Sky News is a plausible scenario in the near future, its existence in 15 years hence is undeniably far from certain in the context of current market conditions. In this respect Fox's commitment defies market realities and safeguards future plurality to an extent that would be otherwise impossible."

This is not the first time Lord Grade has spoken out in favour of the deal, last year pointing to the amount of choice there was in the media landscape for consumers. However, he has in the past been a vocal critic of the Murdoch family, calling Rupert Murdoch "Public Enemy Number 1", and said in his letter that he has a "track record of criticism of Murdoch enterprises".

In a letter, sent at the start of this week to the CMA, former Labour leader Ed Miliband, Sir Vince Cable, Kenneth Clarke and Lord Falconer of Thoroton laid out their case for opposition to the deal.

They said that there were now "credible alternatives" to Fox gaining 100pc ownership of Sky, namely bids from Disney and Comcast, and said that the deal could put Sky News in danger, if Disney's planned takeover of a vast swathe of the 21st Century Fox empire, including Sky, fell through.

"This seems to be a significant risk for the future of Sky News as a stand-alone entity within the Disney empire. This is in itself a threat to plurality," they said.

"Given the strength of its findings on plurality and the risks identified of all the potential remedies proposed, we believe the right and prudent and thing for the CMA to do is to prohibit this merger."